Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 8:42 pm Post subject: Pans? We Have Pans. Which pan for what job and why.

Well, having the correct cutlery surely brought some discussion. Turns out there are some real pros out there dispensing with the decisive knowledge. Having the correct pan for the job will make life easier and may last you a life time.

I've been a large fan of cast iron for over 26 years of cooking in my home. It's something I can bake chickens in, corn bread, use a griddle ... well you get the idea. They plaster my walls. In my left hand I find the solid copper pans lined with tin. They're far more expensive, so I only have a handful or so. They're the only pan I find that gives me a better crunch crust on pork chops better than a red hot cast iron rig. They're ability to saute mushrooms/shallots/butter is beyond compare. It'll dry out the mushrooms and brown them before you have time to wipe your nose. My wife reaches for the copper more often than any other pan. Plus they look really cool hanging in your kitchen.

I have one 3 qt non-stick saute pan with a lid that I use from time to time. Mostly for scrambled eggs or something similar.

The stainless pans I find handy when my hand reaches up and needs something quick. They're mostly the 12" pans. Quickly sautes large amounts on an even surface. Great for use over camp fires as well. Yum.

I echo your fondness for cast iron. I am constantly hunting for used Wagner and Griswold at rummage sales, estate sales, flea markets, second-hand stores, etc. I have quite a collection, and love them all. Properly seasoned, they are almost as no-stick as teflon lined pans and you can get them hot enough to brand a steer.

My favorite manufacturer of cookware is All-Clad. I have only a few pieces but am very satisfied with the way they cook. Even heating, create a good fond, and a snap to clean. And because they are stainless lined, no worries about reactions with food.

I have quite a bit of Calphalon. Not bad, but nowhere near as nice as All-Clad. I have problems with sticking and burning in the saute pans if I am not careful and although they are anodized I have noticed discoloration in the pans after making pickling brines. So, for all of my canning, I now reach for my All-Clad.

I only have one copper piece, a Mauviel tin lined sauce pan. I like it, but I don't use it enough (it's great for risotto). I would like to try more copper, and perhaps this discussion board can lend me some assistance. From what I can tell, the major manufacturers of high quality, good thickness (2.5 mm), copper are Mauviel, Bourgeat, and Falk Culinair. All make stainless lined pans, and it seems that only Mauviel makes a tin lined series. I have concerns about high heat and tin lining owing to the low melting point of tin - is that a legitimate concern? Also, has anyone used the stainless lined pans from any/all of these manufacturers, and if so, are they all relatively equal or are some better than others? Any guidance is appreciated.

All-Clad is amazing. I was about to travel down that road when a friend found some Mauviel 3mm Cast Iron handle fry pans for 55 dollars a piece NEW at a local dollar store. I ended up with 2 of those and 2 large 2.5mm 2.5 quart sauce pans and 2 small 2.5mm sauce pans. So, the All-Clad had to wait.
Yes, copper requires a completely different mode of operation. Don't preheat it. Tin's melting point is about 231 degrees C, not much. But copper is such a great conductor of heat it doesn't seem to matter. If you put your room temp. food in to a 'cold' pan, turn on the medium heat, you can hear it begin to sizzle within a few seconds.
When I do pork chops I sprinkle them with kosher salt and put in to a cold solid copper fry pan, apply a cast iron bacon press and apply the heat. The golden crispiness of the chop is AMAZING.
The saute you get from a solid copper pan is complete, quick and perfect. The water evaporates so quickly your vegies NEVER boil. Even if you over load the pan just a tad. Wonderful.
These pans to require to be retinned from time to time. Mine get a fair amount of use so they go out for retinning every few years, http://www.retinning.com/.

Ya know, I forgot to mention the enamel coated cast iron cookware from France & older ones from Belgium. I found most of them in nearly new condition at local thrift stores for 10 to 15 dollars. In fact, those enamel coated dutch ovens are the ones I use for making the roux. Yum.

I haven't yet had the pleasure of cooking with All Clad. In addition to my cast iron skillet, the bulk of my pans are made by a company called ScanPan. I can actually get my food to brown properly in it, and the pan is pretty much non-stick. The main difference, is I can actually use metal utensiles in these pans unlike those with a coated surface. I also like the fact that I can start my food on the range, and transfer the whole thing pan and all into the oven for finishing.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned liking aluminum pots and pans. Nearly all my stuff is aluminum, and I love it. I have cast iron, too, and I agree it's a wonderful thing, but I usually grab for the aluminum pan anyhow, maybe just because that's my bigger pan.

I should have been more specific - I have Calphalon anodized aluminum. In theory a great material - high heat conductivity, no hot spots, anodizing creates a super hard surface that resists scratches (but can chip), should be acid resistant, and lighter weight than All-Clad or copper. In reality, as I noted, it has a tendency to stick and burn when sauteeing (perhaps I am doing something wrong), it is not completely acid resistant, and you can never seem to get it perfectly clean - there is always a haze on the surface, which makes me think there is a slight layer of whatever on it - perhaps this is what causes the sticking and burning. I have not tried Calphalon's Dormund cleanser yet - maybe that would help - has anyone out there used Dormund and if so, is it better than Ajax or Comet (the other cleansers recommended by Calphalon)?

All in all, Calphalon is decent, much better than 90% of the stuff available on the market.

I use the Emerilware Non Stick Anodized Aluminum pans by All Clad... I LOVE them!! I picked up a set a year ago, and added a few pieces recently while Kitchen's Etc. is going out of business... I don't know how I ever lived without them! (Before that I had all second hand stuff mostly out of people's basements when I was first striking out on my own...)

They're a little heavy... But overall they heat very evenly, nothing sticks to them and the best part is clean up! You practically rinse it off when you're done!

Most of my stuff is Calphalon anodized aluminum, which is not by choice particularly; I just had a friend who gave me Calphalon for every occasion (which was awfully nice of her!). My frying pan is Calphalon non-stick, but I generally prefer to avoid the non-stick stuff. I haven't ever had trouble with stuff sticking to the aluminum, nor do I find it hard to clean, nor do I notice any particular film on my cookware (though I, coming from a cast iron background, would probably look at a film on my cookware as "seasoning" and feel fine about it... ignorance is bliss!). I grew up in a household that did all of its cooking in Club hammered aluminum pots, and I am thanking my lucky stars that I have two male siblings who probably won't notice I've ripped them off when I "inherit" those pots right out from under them.

I did some research and my girlfriend worked at Bed, Bath, and Beyond this summer. I decided to go with:

Calphalon Tri Ply Stainless Steel 8-Piece Cookware Set

It's stainless steel with an aluminum core. Calphalon's Tri Ply line is actually pretty much on par with the All-Clad stuff. The reason All-Clad costs significantly more? Two reasons: 1) Reputation. They make good cookware, they can charge more for noteriety reasons. 2) Made in the USA. Making cookware in America is expensive compared to Asia. Calphalon is the same quality but manufactured in Asia and therefore has a reduced pricetag. Sure I'd go with All-Clad if I had the money, but I don't have the money to waste there. I do however demand good cookware. The above Tri-Ply set was the result. hehe... I like stainless steel for cookware. Cast Iron is the second best in my book but only because seasoned Cast Iron requires alot more care. I can just scrub the crap out of my stainless and not have to worry about loosing my precious seasoning. Can even dishwasher-size it. hehe... And when you're a learning cook like me... you make mistakes.

On another note. Alot of you mention nonstick stuff. I had heard some things about non-stick and did some research. And frankly I don't trust it. I'm never buying non-stick anything ever again. If you'd like a good reference to why I feel this way, check with The Enviormental Working Group. They're a consumer advocacy group and they've done some pretty scary research on the stuff. Teflon = bad. As such I don't trust other non-sticks either. It sure is handy... but it didn't exist for a long time and we can make do for the sake of health. Who cares if you're eating bad food if you're giving yourself cancer just by using chemically coated cookware. It could be safe, but would it REALLY be that big of a supprise if it wasn't? There's pleanty of grease and oil and fat to do it's job without the risk.

Another reason why All-Clad costs more than the Try-Ply Calphalon is that the pots are stainless steel clad aluminum instead of aluminum core. Aluminum core is just a stainless steel pan with a large aluminum mass welded to the base. Works wonderfully for such a simple addition and is easy and inexpensive to manufacture.

All-Clad (and other stainless steel clad pans) gives you a little more performance since the aluminum is not only in the core but also up the sides of the pan. The construction is a bit trickier, but the pans performance with excellence. Is it worth the extra cost? That's up to the individual chef and chef's pocketbook to decide.

One thing bird owners should know about nonstick coatings: many of them (teflon included), if they get overheated (which is easy to accidentally do if you leave a pan on the stove and then forget about it), give off toxic fumes that'll kill your birds in no time. It'll kill humans, too, if it's in high enough concentration, but in the worst concentration you're likely to get off a burnt pan, some blood in the lungs is all a human's likely to suffer. But birds are much much smaller and will die pronto. If you have birds, avoid nonstick.

On Calphalon, yes, they're not exactly the same, but again, I was refering to best value. It was the best choice for myself, and I was just hoping to make you think twice before taking the plunge into the All-Clad.

Again. Here are some links from the above mentioned EWG site on the bird issue:

Canaries die at just 536 degrees. Gas ranges burn at 1000 degress and electrics at 800, well above the the minimum to kill birds. Again, I feel quite strongly about this, if it kills birds, and can make people ill, why on earth would you cook at least a meal a day using the stuff? The EWG estimates that 90% of Americans have chemicals from Teflon in their blood. Again, is this THAT suprising? I don't think so. The articles primarily deal with Teflon, but it applies to all non-stick chemicals (though the specifics are different).